Page 6 - Builder Brief January 2021 Issue

ED BERLANGA President
We Survived Together –
Now Let’s Thrive Together!
Welcome to 2021! I am looking forward to serving as your president this year. We have a full agenda the first quarter and I want to share a few key events with you.
We kick off the month with one of my favorite events, the Annual Housing Forecast presented by Jack Inselmann. We will host the Housing Forecast on Thursday, January 14th at a new venue, the JW Marriott Resort; breakfast will be served at 8:00 am. It will be interesting to hear Jack’s predictions for the coming year and to look back at his predictions from 2020.
The Association will host the first annual BBQ Cook-Off and Washer Tournament on Friday, January 22nd and Saturday, January23rd. IwanttopersonallythankMGBuildingMaterialsforsteppinguptobeourpresentingpartneroftheBBQ that will be held at the Helotes Fairgrounds. There will be cook-off competitions and prize money too! If you are interested in a BBQ Team or a booth, call Feliz Morin at 210-696-3800.
Your leadership team and board of directors have an aggressive government affairs and advocacy agenda in place. We had several face-to-face meetings in November and December after the 3 PAC event and the November elections.
We will charter a bus that will leave San Antonio at 8:30 am on Wednesday, February 24th and return no later than 6:00 pm the same day. Join us as we meet with our elected officials — your involvement is critical to our success. The deadline to file bills is March 12th so we will be able to play defense on any bad bills filed and rumor has it that we could see bills introduced to tax construction labor, change the Local Government Code or do away with the agriculture roll back tax revisions made in 2019. As of December 15th, over 1,000 bills had been filed.
The Sales & Marketing Council will host the Million Dollar Circle
Awards on Thursday, March 25th from 8:30 am to 10:30 am in the
GSABA Ballroom. We moved the event from the first of the year to
give us more time to let the pandemic pass. Builder members, this is a great event to recognize and thank your sales team and reward them for their incredible work in 2020. Please call Jennifer Starr at 210-696-3800 with questions and entry forms, the entry fee is $40 and includes a champagne breakfast.
During my installation speech, I shared my personal priorities which are the four F’s- Faith, Family, Friends and Fun. My faith and family are very important to me and for those of you who do not know me, I am really a FUN person, so please introduce yourself to me this coming year so we can be friends.
I am looking forward to reaching the goals of the Association together.
Texas’ 87th Legislative Session kicks off the second week of January and we expect several bills to be filed that will hurt our industry and your bottom line. Our statewide Rally Day, hosted by the Texas Association of Builders (TAB) and 27 local home builder associations, will be held on Wednesday, February 24th in Austin. GSABA has secured ample meeting space at the DoubleTree Hotel (across the street from the Capitol) and we
have also confirmed the attendance of several of our Texas House
members and state senators.
“ I am a really FUN person, so please introduce yourself to me this coming year so we can be friends.
”
6 JANUARY 2021 | GREATER SAN ANTONIO BUILDERS ASSOCIATION
Sincerely,
FROM THE PRESIDENT